Ennui

Recent events have got me thinking about my first exposure to D&D and gaming general. The sad news of Gary Gygax passing has pushed me into dusting off the big red box and the memories that are tied to it.

I can still remember the first adventure. crammed into my best friends room with him, 3 of our buddies and my mates sister Helen, who I had an enormous crush on and will happily admit that she was my first love. Taking turns reading the books. Spending 2 hours generating the PC's followed by tears, denouncements and recriminations after an hour of gaming when the DM got miffed and introduced us to Beholders... ALL of the beholders. I died horrifically yet heroically while attempting to save my Muse's character. I have long since mellowed about this incident as the DM now looks like the DM from the cartoon show ... slaphead

So began many a misspent evening and weekend, books clasp firmly in hands shaking due to sugar and additives. Vitriolic tirades over the roll of a dice. Impassioned speeches and pleas over who should be the first to go into the deceptively empty room. Overly violent defenses of one’s own character and mind-numbing boredom as the rules were checked for the minutest of effects. It was a happier time when men where men... except when they weren't. I fondly remember one of my friends beating the living cr@p out of his younger brother for questioning his motives in having a "girlie" PC (it was a Kodak moment)

We all started somewhere in this hobby, mostly with D&D ,but I have no doubt it can all be traced back to him. If we look at the marketplace now one can only imagine what he thought about the impact of his world on ours. My original RP group have grown up and moved on. Some are still gaming and some not. Games are after all just games and life, as they say, changes things.

So, I never knew or met Gary Gygax. I never worked with him nor, even now, do I feel any obligation toward him for the years I've spent enjoying the hobby he started. "Why write something then you douche?" you may ask. Well Mr Gygax and his game played a part in something that still means more to me than this hobby. It's why I find myself strangely saddened by his death...

... Immediately after that first game of D&D ended Helen kissed me, my first kiss ever.

My sympathies to his family
D